IN 2016, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) took bolder steps to enforce stricter gaming regulatory policies in its aim to curtail the proliferation of illegal online gaming activities and to ensure that they are properly regulated. These online gaming operations, as was later discovered, have existed since 2003, almost 13 years before the current administration took over. They were illegally employing approximately 80,000 overseas workers.

To safeguard the welfare of Filipinos and at the same time meet the agency’s revenue targets to help fund the government’s nation-building programs and socio-civic projects, Pagcor took over the licensing of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in 2016.